Curtis Hill's Newsletter Addresses Stopping Government Overreach

The Founders knew that the best governance is performed as close to the problem as possible. That's why the federal government shouldn't pick up the trash, your local county shouldn't raise an army, and our state government is probably the best level at which to pass criminal laws and sentencing guidelines.

The Founders recognized that this principle had to be expressed and made permanent in our U.S. Constitution so that citizens could be protected from their state government, and so both citizens and states would be protected from the federal government.

The Tenth Amendment to our United States Constitution specifically guarantees that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Indiana’s Attorney General is the first line of defense when the balance of power between the federal government and our state is under attack -- and that is a responsibility I take very seriously.

Over the last eight years, it has been disturbing to watch President Obama circumvent the Constitution through executive orders and ever-bolder agency regulation. Because of this, as your next Attorney General, I will establish a federalism unit within my office dedicated to protecting and preserving our rights as Hoosiers to govern ourselves. This includes fighting efforts like Obamacare and attacks against our Second Amendment rights.

We must also stand up to federal agencies to protect our state’s powers and responsibilities, and to protect the rule of law. For example, I am against the potential closure of Guantanamo Bay and the transfer of detainees to the United States, not just because we have a federal prison in Terre Haute, but because it violates the rule of law. Even President Obama's own Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, has previously said that federal law prohibits such a transfer. In addition to ignoring the rule of law, the president’s plan would threaten the safety of Hoosiers and all Americans.

I am also concerned about the overreach of President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency. While his ever-expanding federal government asserts more and more authority over our property – even down to a puddle of water - states and citizens are left to deal with the consequences for their homestead, their farms, and their businesses.

These are only a few issues, but they portray a federal government that is out of control and out of touch with everyday Hoosiers. Join me in the fight to restore our state’s rightful constitutional role of self-governance.